Penrith 0, Guisborough Town 1 (The Buildbase FA Vase – first round qualifying)

GUISBOROUGH TOWN had to overcome some significant pre-match problems before progressing to the second qualifying round of The Buildbase FA Vase by beating fellow Northern Leaguers Penrith by the only goal on Saturday.

The Priorymen will now travel to Leeds-based Albion Sports for the second round qualifying tie to be played on Saturday, September 14.

The Priorymen met Albion in the FA Cup last year before beating them 4-0 at the KGV after drawing the first game 2-2 in West Yorkshire.

In a game of few chances Guisborough’s winning goal came just a minute after half-time when Sonni Coleman shot home through a crowd of legs and that was enough to put the Priorymen into the next round.

After the Penrith game a relieved but delighted Guisborough manager Gary Forster explained the problems that beset his side before the game started.

“The build-up to the game was horrendous from our point of view,” he said.

“Joe Ferguson and Anthony Snook got injured in the warm-up and poor young Donny Holdsworth aggravated an old knee injury again.

“On top of that, the night before the game we lost Lewis Hawkins who has joined Blyth Spartans and we wish him all the best as he has been excellent for us since he joined us.

“So our pre-match preparations were anything but ideal, but I am proud of our lads for showing excellent team spirit and fighting hard for each other in such difficult circumstances.”

As well as all the earlier problems they hard to overcome, Guisborough also had to draft in Under-23 development side goalkeeper Johnny Yaqub because regular ‘keeper Ryan Catterick was ineligible because loan players are not allowed to figure in the Vase competition.

Gary said: “Young Johnny did very well in goal to keep a clean sheet and afterwards he was grinning from ear to ear.”

Yaqub has also been with Middlesbrough FC as a junior and Gary paid tribute to Dale Conway, who he says has helped massively in his development.